How to put a task to sleep (or delay) in C# 4.0?

Use the Microsoft.Bcl.Async package from NuGet, it has TaskEx.Delay.

You can use a Timer to create a Delay method in 4.0:

public static Task Delay(double milliseconds)
{
    var tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<bool>();
    System.Timers.Timer timer = new System.Timers.Timer();
    timer.Elapsed+=(obj, args) =>
    {
        tcs.TrySetResult(true);
    };
    timer.Interval = milliseconds;
    timer.AutoReset = false;
    timer.Start();
    return tcs.Task;
}

using System;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Delay(2000).ContinueWith(_ => Console.WriteLine("Done"));
        Console.Read();
    }

    static Task Delay(int milliseconds)
    {
        var tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<object>();
        new Timer(_ => tcs.SetResult(null)).Change(milliseconds, -1);
        return tcs.Task;
    }
}

From the section How to implement Task.Delay in 4.0